There were fresh calls for unity in the Church of England as traditionalists prepared to lobby for a compromise on the ordination of women as bishops while also warning of the risk of defection over the issue.

Traditionalists, made up of two separate groups – Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals – were locked in high-level meetings after the church’s ruling body, the General Synod, rejected all concessions exempting them from female leadership.

Within hours of a key vote on Saturday evening, traditionalists said they would seek an urgent meeting with the archbishops of Canterbury and York before the Synod resumes its deliberations tomorrow. Church of England bishops will also meet tomorrow morning, before formal business, to discuss the crisis.

Other strategies considered by traditionalists are procedural devices to delay legislation to introduce women bishops. A delay would give them more time to influence the forthcoming Synod election by making its membership more conservative, and so more sympathetic to their demands. The Rev Rod Thomas from Reform, an evangelical grouping, said the Synod might act differently in the future. “If we can obtain more support at the Synod elections we will be more likely to secure enough opposition to stop it going through altogether,” he said.

If all fails, those opposed to the ordination of women bishops could leave the church in their hundreds. Conservative evangelicals have threatened to defect and take their parishes with them, seeking alternative leadership in this country or from overseas. Sarah Finch, a Synod member, said: “As women bishops take up their posts, in one diocese after another, conservative evangelical congregations in those dioceses would indeed leave the Church of England.”

Anglo-Catholics will also be considering a Vatican initiative that will allow them to convert while keeping elements of their religious heritage. There is also the possibility of traditionalist churches withholding parish donations, a move that could bankrupt some dioceses.

The bishop of Winchester, Michael Scott-Joynt, said: “There is absolutely no doubt the Church of England will have women bishops. What the opponents are looking for is proper provision. It seems extraordinary that we haven’t been able to give them space.”

On Monday, the Synod will continue discussing how women bishops will be consecrated.

Source: www.virtueonline.org